Identifying and definitional attributes

The Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS) and its national collection is:

a set of nationally significant data items or pieces of information that are collected in all Australian jurisdictions; and

an agreed method of collection and transmission.

The purpose of the DS NMDS collection is to facilitate the annual collation of nationally comparable data about disability services, and to obtain reliable, consistent data with minimal load on the disability services field. Under the National Disability Agreement (NDA), the Disability Administrators in all Australian jurisdictions are responsible for ensuring ‘that DS NMDS information will be comparable across all jurisdictions and years'.

Services within the scope of the collection are those for which funding has been provided, during the specified period, by a government organisation operating under the NDA. Therefore, if a service type outlet did not receive NDA funding for the 2009–10 collection (i.e. its NDA funding dollars for the financial year are zero), then details of this outlet should not be included in the data collection.

A funded agency may receive funding from multiple sources. Where a funded agency is unable to differentiate service users and/or staff according to funding source (i.e. NDA or other), they are asked to provide details of all service users and staff (for each service type).

Most agencies funded under the NDA are asked to provide information about:

each of the service types they are funded to provide (i.e. service type outlets they operate);

all service users who received support over a specified reporting period; and

the DS NMDS service type(s) the service user received.

The level of information a funded agency is asked to provide varies according to the particular service type (i.e. for each service type outlet).

Where services are provided to groups or families (e.g., 2.02, 2.04, or 2.05), details are only requested about the service user who is eligible for services, not their family or other group members. If a family member/carer receives respite services, limited information about the carer is required, such as the carer’s relationship to the service user and the carer’s age group.

Service type classification

Service type outlet –details required (except for those provided by the jurisdiction)

Service user – details required

Services received by each service user in the reporting period – details required

Accommodation support

1.01 Large residential/institution (>20 people) – 24 hour care

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

1.02 Small residential/institution(7–20 people) – 24 hour care

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

1.03 Hostels – generally not 24 hour care

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

1.04 Group homes (< 7 people)

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

1.05 Attendant care/ personal care

All

All

All

1.06 In-home accommodation support

All

All

All

1.07 Alternative family placement

All

All

All

1.08 Other accommodation support

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

Community support

2.01 Therapy support for individuals

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

2.02 Early childhood intervention

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

2.03 Behaviour/specialist intervention

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

2.04 Counselling (individual/ family/ group)

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

2.05 Regional resource and support teams

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

2.06 Case management, local coordination and development

All

All (except for community development activity within this service type)

All (except for community development activity within this service type)

2.07 Other community support

All

All (except for community development activity within this service type)

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

Community access

3.01 Learning and life skills development

All

All

All

3.02 Recreation/holiday programs(a)

All

Linkage key elements only (items 2a–2e)

Items 17a–17b (service start date and date service last received)

3.03 Other community access

All

All

All

Respite

4.05 Other respite

All

All

All

Respite

4.01 Own home respite

All

All

All

4.02 Centre-based respite/ respite homes

All

All

All

4.03 Host family respite/ peer support respite

All

All

All

4.04 Flexible respite

All

All

All

4.05 Other respite

All

All

All

Employment

5.01 Open employment

All

All (except for carer –primary status, residency status, age group – items 12b,c,e)

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

5.02 Supported employment

All

All (except for carer –primary status, residency status, age group – items 12b,c,e)

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

5.04 Targeted support

All

All (except for carer –primary status, residency status, age group – items 12b,c,e)

All (except for data items on hours received – items 17e–f)

Advocacy, information and alternative forms of communication

6.01 Advocacy

All

None

None

6.02 Information/ referral

All

None

None

6.03 Combined information/ advocacy

All

None

None

6.04 Mutual support/ self-help groups

All

None

None

6.05 Alternative formats of communication

All

None

None

Other support

7.01 Research and evaluation

All (except number of service users – item 7)

None

None

7.02 Training and development

All (except number of service users – item 7)

None

None

7.03 Peak bodies

All (except number of service users – item 7)

None

None

7.04 Other support services

All (except number of service users – item 7)

None

None

(a) Some jurisdictions require the collection of other service user/ services received data items for this service type in addition to those listed here.

The data collection is based around the concept of a 'service type outlet', each of which provides only one service type from a discrete location. A funded agency may be funded to provide one or more service types through one or more service type outlets. For example, an agency may be provided under the NDA to provide residential accommodation and respite services from one location or funded to provide group homes in three separate locations. A separate service type outlet form is completed for each service type the agency is funded to provide. If a service user receives more than one service type in the reporting period, a separate service user form is completed for each service type received.

Statistical units:

Service type outlets, service users

Reporting period:

Disability agencies are asked to record key information about service users on an ongoing basis, so that they can transmit the required information at the end of each ‘reporting period’. Most jurisdictions have set their reporting period (and will therefore ask for information to be transmitted) at the end of each financial year quarter. Some will still only require information to be transmitted at the end of a financial year.

Reference week:

The annual reference week is the 7-day week preceding the end of the financial year (i.e. 24 June to 30 June).

Privacy:

DS NMDS collections conducted in each jurisdiction must comply with Commonwealth privacy legislation and established privacy and data principles.

Metadata items in this Data Set Specification

1. The number of hours of support received by a service user for a service type for the week preceding the end of the reporting period (the 7-day reference week);and

2. The number of hours of support received by a service user for a service type for a typical 7-day week.

The total hours reported should be rounded up to the nearest whole hour.

Where less than one hour was received, agencies may record ‘900’.

Note: The concept of a typical week may not apply to some service users. In these cases service type outlets may calculate this data element as an average of the actual hours received by the service user over the reporting period.

This item may be collected in one of two ways:

As an average of the actual hours received by this service user in a typical week (over the reporting period). That is, this item is derived from the 'total hours received during the reporting period'. OR The service user's usual or typical weekly pattern of support while receiving your service in the reporting period. This enables service type outlets to indicate whether or not the reference week was typical.

If a service type outlet is funded to provide service type 2.06 Case management, local coordination and development, the following rules apply for calculating Hours of assistance:

hours of assistance received by service users in terms of time spent on their behalf coordinating, managing or arranging brokerage of other services for service users should be reported; hours of assistance received by service users in terms of actual services delivered, that have been arranged, purchased or brokered by a service type outlet (as part of providing service type 2.06) should not be reported;

If a service type outlet sub-contracts the provision of part or all of a service type (other than 2.06) it is funded to provide to another agency, then it is responsible for providing relevant details about the sub-contracted activity (e.g. in-home accommodation support provider sub-contracting the provision of some in-home accommodation support to another agency, which may or may not be NDA-funded). Hours of assistance received that are sub-contracted to another agency should be included by the service type outlet that has done the sub-contracting, and should not be reported by the agency that has been sub-contracted (to deliver the services) by the service type outlet.

It is recognised that two or more people may equally share the caring role (e.g. mother and father) however, for the purposes of the DS NMDS collection, characteristics are only required for one of these carers. The expressed views of the service user and/or their carer(s) or significant other should be used as the basis for determining this.

An informal carer is someone, such as family member, friend or neighbour, who has been identified as providing regular and sustained care and assistance to the person requiring support.

This data element should only be reported in relation to service users that have a carer.

A service user may have more than one family member or friend providing them with care and assistance. In such circumstances, this data element relates to the carer who is identified as providing the most significant amount and type of care and assistance. It is recognised that two or more people may equally share the caring role (e.g. mother and father) however, for the purposes of the DS NMDS collection, characteristics are only requested for one of these carers. The expressed views of the service user and/or their carer or significant other should be used as the basis for determining which carer should be considered to be the main carer in this regard.

In the DS NMDS, this data element refers to the postcode of a service user's usual residence ('usual' means 4 or more days per week on average).

This data element is used in NDA to capture the postcode of the 'geographic location' of a person, not their postal address postcode. The DS NMDS collection defines ‘usual’ as where the person usually resides for four or more days per week on average.

It is recommended that the 10 most frequently reported countries of birth are listed on data collection forms to simplify data collection and minimise coding load on service type outlets and funding departments. Where the country of birth is known but is not specified in the classification below, (i.e., is ‘other country’), funded agencies should specify it on primary data collection forms. These will then be coded by funding departments to the appropriate SACC code.

In the NDA collection, if the age of the person is known, the age of the person should be used to derive the person’s year of birth. If the person’s age is not known, an estimate of the person’s age should be used to calculate an estimated year of birth. An actual or estimated year of birth should then be converted to an estimated date of birth according to the following convention: 01/01/estimated year of birth. Where the date of birth is estimated, this should be indicated when the data is submitted using the date estimate indicator.

It is important that service type outlets do not record estimated dates of birth by using ‘00’ for the day, month or year as this would not be considered a valid date by the system processing the data.

It is recognised that two or more people may equally share the caring role (e.g. mother and father) however, for the purposes of this collection, characteristics are only requested for one of these carers.

It is also recognised that the roles of parent and carer, particularly in the case of children, are difficult to distinguish. Parents of children should generally be recorded as a carer if they provide more care to their child than would be typical of the care provided to a child of the same age without a disability.

The DS NMDS defines ‘usual’ as where the person usually resides for four or more days per week on average. If it is difficult to determine the person’s ‘usual’ residential setting for the reporting period, the setting the person resided in during the reference week, and their living arrangements in that setting, should be reported.

In most instances, homeless people should be coded as living alone.

People living in residential settings such as group homes and hostels may consider that they live alone or live with others. The expressed views of the service user should be used to determine whether they live alone or with others.

Code 3 Lives with others includes sharing with friends or a carer (where the carer is not a family member).

A service is a support activity delivered to a person, in accord with the NDA. Services within the scope of the collection are those for which funding has been provided, during the specified period, by a government organisation operating under the NDA.

A service user is considered to have started receiving a NDA-funded service type once they have been judged as eligible for the service type and have actually received support within that service type. Support may include assessment processes once the service user has been accepted as eligible for the service type. However it does not include assessment where assessment is for eligibility or for a place on a waiting list. Support does not generally include requests for information or phone queries.

At times, an outlet may only provide the service user with one-off assistance. For example, a service user may only require respite care on one occasion. Where this assistance is NDA-funded, the general rule is that all service users details should be recorded as required for that service type. If the service user is not expected to use the service outlet again, an exit date and appropriate main reason for service cessation should be reported.

If a service user formally exits a service and then ‘re-enters’ a service, an exit date should be reported and a new service start date should be reported.

Service users who commence services after 1 October 2002, should have their actual commencement date recorded (i.e. the date this service type was first received by the service user from the service type outlet).

Existing service users (i.e. those who commenced services prior to October 2002), should either be recorded as commencing the service type on:

their known service start date, for example, a service user starting on 2 September 2002 may be recorded as 02092002;

an estimate of their service start date by recording ‘0101’ for the day and month and estimating the year. For example, if a service user has been receiving support from a service type outlet for about 5 years, the outlet would record the Service start date as 01011997’; or

on 1 October 2002 (i.e. 01102002). This option is used if the start date is unknown or cannot be recorded for some other reason.

Start date, in conjunction with last service provision date, or exit date, gives some indication of length of stay of service users in the NDA program and of the intensity of service provision. In conjunction with the data element exit date, it can also be used to identify the number of NDA-funded service users as at the end of the DS NMDS reporting period, and at any time.

This item indicates the last time a person received a service during a reporting period. It does not indicate the date that they exited the service, or the date in which the service user's form was completed.

This item may be used as an indicator of the 'active' or 'inactive' status of service users, for a particular reporting period. It can also be used to calculate the length of time service users received a NDA-funded service type for those who have not exited the program and so not have an exit date (end date).

NDA funding data should relate to the most recent financial year. This data element needs to be reported for all services funded under the NDA, both those delivered by government and non-government providers. Where possible NDA funding data should be linked to Service type outlet identification numbers. Where the funding information is not available at the Service type outlet level, funding departments are requested to allocate the funding information for dollars to either a group of service type outlets or to a Funded agency.

Total NDA funds can be provided by the jurisdiction/funding department at various levels-service type outlet, funded agency, or service group level.

Where this data element is not able to be reported, postcode may be reported instead. Either the geographic location or postcode should be reported by funding departments in relation to all Service type outlets.

Reference week: The actual total hours worked by all paid staff for a service type outlet in the 7-day week preceding the end of the reporting period.

Typical week: The total hours worked by all paid staff for a service type outlet in a typical 7-day week.

For funded agencies with multiple service type outlets (and where paid staff hours per service type outlet are not known), all paid staff should be apportioned across service type outlets. To apportion paid staff across different service type outlets it is recommended that agencies, for instance:

Use fortnightly rosters as a starting point; apportion total paid staff hours across funded service types; divide this figure by two to get weekly paid staff hours for the week preceding the end of the reporting period; and record the apportioned paid staff hours to the relevant service type outlet.

Paid staff hours per service type outlet are requested irrespective of the source of funding. Staff hours information is requested in this way to:

Increase the comparability of responses across service type outlets (i.e. it is considered more feasible for agencies to provide information in this way using existing administrative mechanisms); and provide information more closely related to the receipt of services by service users (i.e. in recognition that services are provided to service users partly as a result of NDA funding and partly as a result of funding from other sources and the support of volunteers).

If a service type outlet is funded to provide service type 2.06 Case management, local coordination and development, the following rules apply for calculating paid staff hours:

Paid staff hours relating to the case coordination/management/ brokerage activities service type outlets undertake should be recorded (including administrative time, board member time etc. as above); staff hours that are arranged, purchased or brokered by a service type outlet to another agency as part of providing service type 2.06 should not be recorded.

If a service type outlet sub-contracts the provision of part or all of a service type (other than 2.06) they are funded to provide to another agency:

The service type outlet that is sub-contracting another agency is responsible for providing relevant details about the sub-contracted activity (e.g. in-home accommodation support provider sub-contracting the provision of some in-home accommodation support to another agency, which may or may not be NDA-funded). Paid staff hours that are sub-contracted in this way should be included with the paid staff hours allocation for the service type outlet (and the sub-contractor outlet should not report these hours, if they are also included in the DS NMDS.

These rules are designed to avoid double counting and duplication of effort by funded agencies.

Reference week: Collection method

This data element reports hours worked by paid staff on behalf of the service type outlet both directly delivered to service users, and indirectly to service users (e.g. indirect hours such as related committee meetings).

For the calculation of paid staff hours worked the following should be included:

Paid staff hours worked by administrative staff, managers etc. (i.e. indirect staff relating to this service type outlet). Paid staff hours worked by Board members relating to the service type. Paid staff hours worked on committees or at meetings relevant to the service type. Staff hours worked as paid overtime. Staff hours worked while staff receiving payment for sleepover duties. Paid staff hours worked by staff contracted to clean premises. Staff hours worked by staff receiving training relevant to the service type.

The following should be excluded from paid staff hours worked:

Staff hours for workers on leave (including public holidays, paid/unpaid sick leave). This data element relates to staff hours worked, not staff hours paid for). Staff hours normally worked in positions that are currently vacant. Staff hours allocated to non-NDA service users

Typical week: Collection method

As above but include: Staff hours for workers on leave (including public holidays, paid/unpaid sick leave). This data element relates to staff hours paid for). Staff hours normally worked in positions that are currently vacant.

Reference week: The actual total hours worked by all volunteer/unpaid staff for a service type outlet in the 7-day week preceding the end of the reporting period.

Typical week: The total hours worked by all volunteer/unpaid staff for a service type outlet in a typical 7-day week.

This data element reports hours worked by volunteer/unpaid staff on behalf of the service type outlet both directly delivered to service users, and indirectly to service users (e.g. indirect hours such as related committee meetings).

For funded agencies with multiple service type outlets (and where volunteer/unpaid staff hours per service type outlet are not known), all volunteer/unpaid staff should be apportioned across service type outlets. To apportion volunteer/unpaid staff across different service type outlets it is recommended that agencies, for instance:

use fortnightly rosters as a starting point; apportion total volunteer/unpaid staff hours across funded service types; divide this figure by two to get weekly volunteer/unpaid staff hours for the week preceding the end of the reporting period; and record the apportioned volunteer/unpaid staff hours to the relevant service type outlet.

If a service type outlet is funded to provide service type 2.06 Case management, local coordination and development, the following rules apply for calculating volunteer/unpaid staff hours:

volunteer/unpaid staff hours relating to the case coordination/ management/brokerage activities service type outlets undertake should be recorded (including administrative time, board member time etc. as above); volunteer/unpaid staff hours that are arranged by a service type outlet for another agency to provide as part of providing service type 2.06 should not be recorded.

If a service type outlet sub-contracts the provision of part or all of a service type (other than 2.06) they are funded to provide to another agency:

The service type outlet who is sub-contracting another agency is responsible for providing relevant details about the sub-contracted activity (e.g. in-home accommodation support provider sub-contracting the provision of some in-home accommodation support to another agency, which may or may not be NDA-funded). Volunteer/unpaid staff hours that are sub-contracted in this way should be included with the volunteer/unpaid staff hours allocation for the service type outlet (and the sub-contractor outlet should not include these hours in their service type outlet return, if they are also included in the DS NMDS.

These rules are designed to avoid double counting and duplication of effort by funded agencies/service type outlets.

Reference week: Collection methods

For the calculation of volunteer/unpaid staff hours worked, the following should be included:

Volunteer/unpaid staff hours worked by administrative staff. Volunteer/unpaid staff hours worked by Board members relating to the service type. Volunteer/unpaid staff hours worked on committees or at meetings relevant to the service type. Staff hours worked as unpaid work by usually paid or contract staff. Volunteer/unpaid staff hours worked by staff contracted to clean premises. Staff hours worked by staff receiving training relevant to the service type.

The following should be excluded from volunteer/unpaid staff hours worked:

Staff hours for workers on leave (including public holidays). Staff hours normally worked in positions that are currently vacant.

Typical week: Collection methods

As above but include: Staff hours for workers on leave (including public holidays). Staff hours normally worked in positions that are currently vacant.

'Non-government' must be selected as the sector type of the service type outlet.

DSS specific information:

Information specific to this data set:

This data element should be reported by funding departments in relation to all non-government service type outlets.

Where a service type outlet has a formal relationship with a NDA funded agency then the government/non-government sector of the funded agency should generally be recorded.

This data element is used in conjunction with the level of government to determine the type of government or non-government sector (agency sector) to which the funded agency (or service type outlet) belongs.

This item is used in conjunction with the tax exempt indicator of the funded agency to describe the agency sector or type of government or non-government sector to which the funded agency (or service type outlet) belongs.

It is also used in conjunction with the State/Territory identifier to determine the funding jurisdiction. 'Government' must be selected as the sector of this service type outlet.

In the DS NMDS, this data element refers to the number of service users receiving NDA-funded services of a particular service type.

The number of people who received a service during the whole reporting period is required, not just those who received a service in a reference week.

The service type outlet must have allocated some of its resources (more than 15 minutes) to the person during the reporting period, such as to a person residing in agency-operated accommodation, attending respite care, or attending a recreation service. Service users should not be counted if they have only made requests for information, minor phone queries etc.

Service type outlets 6.01-6.05 count the following:

6.01 (Advocacy) – number of people who have received advocacy services in the reporting period.

6.02 (Information/referral) – number of people making a request for information or referral.

6.03 (Combined information/advocacy) – as for 6.01 and 6.02.

6.04 (Mutual support/self-help groups) – number of people attending group sessions (i.e. if an individual attends a group session every Wednesday in the reporting period, the person should only be counted once for the reporting period.).

6.05 (Alternative formats of communication) – estimated number of people accessing the output from the service.

It may not always be feasible to count the actual number of service users receiving services from service type outlets 6.01–6.05. Where this is not possible, service type outlets are asked to estimate the number of service users accessing the service. For example, a NDA-funded radio station (6.05) should estimate the number of people who listen to the radio station. Where there are a number of people potentially receiving a 6.01–6.05 service simultaneously (e.g. an interpreter at a conference), estimate the number of people that are benefiting from the service (e.g. how many people actually need the interpreter). If this is not possible, all people present should be counted as service users.

A funded agency may receive funding from multiple sources – however for DS NMDS purposes, only those services provided using NDA funds should be recorded. Where a funded agency is unable to differentiate all data according to funding source (i.e. NDA or other), they are asked to provide details of all service users and staff (for each service type). For example, if a service type outlet providing early childhood intervention is partly funded through donations or fund raising, and partly by NDA funds, all service users are counted who receive this service during the reporting period. This is the case unless the accounting and staffing methods of the service type outlet enable reporting separately. The total number of people receiving this service type (as indicated in response to this data item) will usually be equal to the number of Service User Forms completed by the service type outlet. In some cases 'number of service users' may be greater than the number of Service User Forms completed by the service type outlet. This may be because of service users who have not consented for their information to be transmitted as part of the DS NMDS; they should still be included in the 'number of service users'.

Service type outlets 7.01–7.04 may record ‘90’ (‘no regular pattern of operation through a day’), or, if possible and they wish to do so, they may record the actual number of days per week of operation.

Service type outlets 7.01–7.04 may record ‘90’ (‘no regular pattern of operation through a day’), or, if possible and they wish to do so, they may record the actual number of days per week of operation.

The number of weeks the service type outlet usually operates. This data element is reported by all service type outlets

A service type outlet is considered to be operating whenever a service is provided to service users (e.g. if a service type outlet closes for only two weeks over the Christmas period it should be reported as operating for 50 weeks per year).

Service type outlets 7.01–7.04 may record ‘90’ (‘no regular pattern of operation through a day’), or, if possible and they wish to do so, they may record the actual number of weeks of operation.

This item is used in the DS NMDS to determine the type of government or non-government sector to which the funded agency (or service type outlet) belongs. Where 'Government' is selected, then the Level of government must also be recorded.

Where 'Non-government' is selected, then the 'Tax exempt indicator' must also be recorded.